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Debate: Amy Stephens says Ken Buck hurt GOP in 2010

Amy Stephens made the case Tuesday that Ken Buck, a chief rival in Colorado's Republican primary for the U.S. Senate, hurt the party in his failed 2010 Senate bid.

Stephens said that the Weld County district attorney's performance in a national television interview had significant ramifications.

The state representative from Monument said that in the 2010 race, the top of the GOP ticket, including Buck, hurt the party's candidates statewide, and "a lot of things imploded."

She noted that state House Republican candidates were polling ahead, but "unfortunately when Ken had the 'Meet the Press' incident, along with our gubernatorial (candidates), we watched a lot of things implode."

Clockwise from top left: Ken Buck, Weld County district attorney; Owen Hill, state senator from Colorado Springs; Amy Stephens, state representative from Monument; Floyd Trujillo, an oil and gas consultant from Douglas County; Tom Janich, a warehouse manager from Brighton; and Mark Aspiri, a Glenwood Springs businessman. (Hyoung Chang, The Denver Post)

The swipe came during a series of exchanges in the debate hosted by The Denver Post. Republicans will pick their standard-bearer in the June 24 party primary.

Buck said the campaign mistakes he made four years ago, including the controversial remark comparing gays to alcoholics, was a mistake he would not repeat again.

"I was unprepared for the question, and I answered it in a shorthanded way, and I shouldn't have answered it," said Buck.

"I'm a better candidate than I was four years ago. ... I will not implode, though I don't agree with the premise I did implode."

Buck passed on a chance to attack Stephens for her support of the state's health exchange, which conservative critics link to the Affordable Care Act derisively as "Amycare."

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On a question about the state's alternative to Obamacare sponsored by Stephens in 2011, Buck rose to Stephens' defense, though he disagreed with her position.

"If you look at Amy's career, you will see the career of a person who has stood up for Republican values time and time again," he said. "There are people in the Republican Party focused on one issue, and they shouldn't be, for any of us up here."

Stephens called the state-run health exchange "the lesser of two evils" to exempt the state from Obamacare, and that she supports government closer to home.

"When you see a tsunami coming, you have to make a decision," she said, adding she would vote to repeal Obamacare.

State Sen. Owen Hill of Colorado Springs said complacency also hurt the GOP's chances to take the Senate seat from Michael Bennet four years ago, a banner year for Republicans, especially those with Tea Party backing, such as Buck.

"The real game-changing event in 2010 was the fact that after the primaries, some Republicans felt like they could kneel on the ball and not discuss and go after a policy-driven agenda that was going to get us out of the mess we're in," Hill said.

Hill said the defining issue in this race is Obama- care, but averted criticizing Stephens and the state program.

Hill took consistent aim at the federal government throughout the hour-long debate.

"We've tried Democrat leadership, we've tried Republican leadership, and across the board we have watched for the coming generations the debt grow, freedoms taken away, and power and money consolidated in Washington, D.C.," he said. "Unless we find a way to return opportunities to the state, to follow the Constitution, to stick to the enumerated powers our founding fathers were wise enough to give us in the first place, it is indeed too late."

Tuesday night's debate included three political newcomers viewed as longshots: Floyd Trujillo of Douglas County, an oil and gas industry consultant; former Brighton School Board member Tom Janich; and businessman Mark Aspiri of Glenwood Springs.

The poll gave Udall a narrow 43 percent to 41 percent lead over both Baumgardner and Stephens, a 45 percent to 42 percent lead over Buck and a 44 to 39 percent split with Hill. Aspiri was not part of the poll.

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